If you’ve decided to take a leap and create a membership site, the next big decision you need to make is whether or not you should include a community. In most cases, a community is a great idea, but there are a few things you need to consider before making a final decision. Here are the pros and cons:

Did you know that including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80 percent? Or that 55 percent of people watch videos online every day? We’re in a video marketing revolution, and if you haven’t joined in yet, you should… and quickly! Here are just a few more reasons why you need to get into the video marketing game now:

Appeal to all ages.

Members of Generation Z aren’t the only ones watching videos online. Millennials, Gen Y and Baby Boomers are also seeking out quality video content from the businesses they purchase from.

Nope, you’re not seeing things and we’re not crazy. Making a pie is just like starting a business and we’re going to explain how:

Determine the need for pie.

When you decide to make a pie, it’s because you’ve determined that there’s a need for a pie. Maybe it’s Thanksgiving or another special occasion, or maybe your child or spouse just REALLY wants one. The same applies when you decide to start a business: you’ve determined that there’s a need for the product or service that you’ll be offering and you commit to doing something about it.

In the last installment of our 6-Part List Building Series, we’re going to explain how you can use other people’s lists to build your own. And no, this does not mean buying email lists… that’s always a bad idea! However, collaborating with other businesses to promote each other, a technique known as co-marketing, is a great way to gain subscribers.

PRO tip: Always, yes ALWAYS, have a call-to-action so ‘other people’s customers’ can opt-in on YOUR list for something free or paid. That’s the secret to using other people’s lists to grow your own.

So here are five ways to collaborate with another business and use their list to build your own:

Speaking engagements are a great way to promote yourself amongst industry peers and to your audience. So, in this week’s installment of our 6-Part List-Building Series, we will provide you with four easy steps you can take to build your email list using speaking engagements.

We’re back with our 6 Part List-Building Series and this week we’re sharing 9 ways to build your list using social media:

Host a Facebook Live.

Facebook Lives are a great way to help your audience put a face to a name and feel more connected to your brand. During the recording, teach a concept or share actionable tips and strategies. Create additional useful content or a handout that contains all of the information you shared during the live stream and offer it to your audience—in exchange for their email, of course.

Let me ask you a few questions and I promise to give you the solutions:

• Is your lead tracking system disorganized (stacks of business cards, scribbled on notebooks, etc.)?
• Does it take you longer than a day or two to get back to prospects and clients?
• Have you ever forgotten to follow-up?
• Have you ever been too busy to follow-up?
• Have you ever let a hard-earned lead slip through the cracks?

Passion is a powerful force, an energy born from what excites you. In order to be successful in your business, you must be passionate about the work that you do. If you are not passionate about what you do, you will quickly become burnt out or bored.

Think about it. Do you know any successful people who are not passionate about what they do?

Did you know that your business owns marketing gold, and that it’s in plain view? All of that content on your website, blog and social media pages were time-consuming and costly to create. So why not repurpose it and earn a higher level of return on your investment?

Here are a few reasons why it might be time to revisit the content you already have, instead of spending more time and money on new material:

As back-to-school items fly off the shelves, they’ll be replaced by Halloween décor, Thanksgiving essentials, and finally, a Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year’s explosion. The holidays are coming, whether you are ready or not. And even if you’re not ready, your marketing plans need to be. Here are a few tips to get you started now:

Plan early.

This is the golden rule of holiday marketing. Dedicate your summer to your Q4 marketing plan and solidify your strategy now. Advertising becomes more expensive and more competitive during the holiday season, so preparing ahead of time is key.  

Entrepreneurs are the backbone of every company ever created, and according to Chris Kuenne and John Danner, entrepreneurship professors at Princeton University, the personality those business starters have is the most important factor in determining their success.

Together, they studied the motivation and self-identity of 450 entrepreneurs whose companies made at least $3 million in annual revenue and had been around for at least 3 years. Through their work, they discovered that these entrepreneurs all had one of four personalities:

If you thought direct mail was dead, think again. It is still a powerful marketing tool, especially when paired with an email campaign, and can help you gain more valuable customers. So, in this week’s installment of our 6-Part List-Building Series, we put together five tips for using direct mail to build your email list:

Networking is a fundamental part of being a successful business owner and it’s also an essential step in building a strong email list. That’s why we put together this week’s installment in our six-part list-building series: 7 ways to build your email list using networking.

If you want to connect with your customers, an email list is a must. So we’ve created a six-part series on building this invaluable link to your customer base. Here are 5 ways to build your list using your website:

Create a pop-up for each page of your website.

This is probably the most popular way to build an email list through a website. But don’t fret. Pop ups aren’t as bothersome as they sound. Today, they are usually timed so that once a visitor to your website spends a certain number of seconds on your page, he or she will receive a pop-up relevant to their behavior. Follow best practices when creating your pop-ups, such as including a clear call to action, personalizing them to the user, offering an irresistible incentive and using an eye-catching design.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Manager, but I bet you knew that. There are many CRMs out there. Some have been around for many years and they vary from the very basic to the very complex. How do you navigate all that and make the right decision?